Web browsers are software applications that enable the viewing of information accessible on the World Wide Web (or Web). At its most basic, the Web is a collection of documents written using programming languages that web browsers can interpret. Such languages include, for example, a hyper text markup language (HTML), an eXtensible markup language (XML), and the like. Microsoft Internet Explorer®, Mozilla Firefox®, Safari®, and Opera® are just to name a few examples of web browsers.
Browser extensions are applications such as plug-ins or add-ons that are downloaded and installed on an individual computing device on which a web browser is operating. The browser extensions are compiled separately for each type of web browser. A prime example for a browser extension is a downloadable toolbar. When installed, a toolbar allows users to customize their browsing experience.
The process of creating a downloadable toolbar includes developing a software application compatible with a specific browser type and storing an executable application in a web server. The software application embodying the toolbar typically includes functional buttons, search windows, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for other plug-ins and interfaces. A user may download the executable application from a web server to a local computing device and run the application thereon, causing the toolbar to be integrated in the web browser.
There are some disadvantages with the current process of developing toolbars. Such a process requires programming and compiling software code for each type of web browser. Thus, a new version of the same toolbar should be developed for each web browser's type. This is typically performed by software developers who specialized in developing toolbars. Thus, existing toolbars are proprietary and in most cases not extensible.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an automated solution for generating toolbars. It would be further advantageous to provide a solution for generating cross-browser toolbars.